1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to telephone system access control devices. In particular, it relates to a device which can, from a single location, temporarily restrict incoming and outgoing access between a telephone line and any telephone sets connected to that telephone line.
2. Background
The availability of telephone communications is now so common that telephones are often found in almost every room in a residential dwelling or commercial establishment. Due to the extensive use of telephones, it is often desirable to restrict the availability of phone lines and the time frame in which calls can be received or placed on a telephone line. While the ubiquitous nature of telephones has made both personal and business communication easy and available to everyone, it has also created a problem in that telephone communications can be disruptive and have a negative impact on both family and business life. As a result, it is often desirable to restrict the ability to receive or make calls on a particular telephone line at given time.
For example, when a telephone call is received while a family is having dinner, the call can be disruptive and interfere with the dinner meal. Likewise, the family may not wish to be disturbed while engaged in some other activity, such as a family meeting, a celebration, watching a particular television program or movie, etc. It would also be desirable to restrict incoming calls while children are engaged in activities such as school homework, etc. which requires concentration that should not be disrupted by social calls. As a result, it would be desirable to have a method of temporarily inhibiting incoming telephone calls to enhance the quality of other activities.
While incoming calls can present an inconvenience for individuals or families, outgoing calls can also present a problem. Many children spend an inordinate amount of time placing calls to friends and talking on the telephone. Often, parents become concerned that excessive telephone use distracts from other activities, such as study, sports activities, etc. As a result, many parents would like to control the amount of time their child spends making outgoing, or receiving incoming, calls. It would be desirable to have a method of temporarily inhibiting both incoming and outgoing telephone calls to limit excessive use of telephones by children.
Another concern related to the use of today's telephone communications is the availability of an almost unlimited amount of information on the Internet. In particular, parents may wish to control access to outgoing telephone lines to limit the amount of time a child has access to the Internet. By so doing, the child will pursue other activities and not spend an inordinate amount of time on a single activity, such as surfing the Internet. In addition to limiting the amount of time that is available for a child to access the Internet, a parent may also have a strong interest in limiting when a child can access the Internet. Due to the nature of the content on many Internet Web sites, which may contain prurient or other objectionable material, a parent may wish to limit access to the Internet after a certain time. For example, a parent may not wish to allow a child to surf the Internet late at night after the parents have gone to sleep. In this situation, children may inadvertently enter chat rooms and engage in conversations with predators or other undesirables. It would be desirable to have a method of selectably inhibiting telephone links to the Internet during specific time periods, such as when parents are sleeping.
While the foregoing discussion centered on control of access to telephone lines in residential environment, there are also occasions when access to telephone lines in a commercial environment is desirable. In most businesses, almost all personnel have access to a telephone for both incoming and outgoing calls. Such telephones are generally unrestricted and as a result personnel can place all type of calls, including long distance telephone calls. In many cases the telephone calls are of a personal nature. As a result, the company and telephone system is often abused and companies must frequently pay substantial telephone bills which are unrelated to business activities. This is especially true when management is not present, such as off hours, etc. To help reduce costs, a business owner may wish to restrict access to telephone lines after hours, or when management is not present, in order to avoid unnecessary expense due to the placing of unauthorized telephone calls by employees, janitorial staff, etc. It would be desirable to have a convenient method of providing management the ability to inhibit access to a telephone line at selected times.
Another problem associated with controlling access to telephone lines is the wide variety of telephone systems available today. Some businesses may still have rotary dial systems while others employ DTMF tone systems. Likewise, some companies have equipment which allows telephone sets to be connected directly to telephone lines, while other companies have systems which use intervening controllers that attach a group of telephones to a telephone line. Further, some companies use complicated systems in which there may be a mixture of rotary dial, DTMF tone systems, and one or more group controllers to provide access to a telephone line for multiple telephones. It would be desirable for a business owner or manager to have the means to selectably disable access to a telephone line, regardless of the type of telephone system used, to prevent unauthorized use of the telephone system.
Attempts have been made by the prior art to control access to telephone lines for incoming and/or outgoing calls for a variety of reasons. Some devices are used as a curfew device for children, and some are used as business telephone line access control devices. Some devices use mechanical key operated switches to physically connect or disconnect the telephone line from the telephone set. Some of the devices include a timer which can be adjusted so that children are prevented from using the telephone between certain time periods, such as late at night, during dinner time, or while homework is being done. These devices can also be used in conjunction with commercial establishments or used in the home so that access to telephone lines can be limited to specific time periods. Several drawbacks are associated with this type of device. First, since they typically use a lockable switch which controls individual telephone outlets, the individual in control of the system must go to location of the outlet and manually operate the switch and/or adjust the timer. As these lockable systems typically are integrated with a wall jack, they require installation of equipment into particular outlets which allows the telephone circuit to be broken prior to the line being made available at the wall jack. This may require access the interior walls for installation. This installation often requires a skilled workman. In addition to the expense an inconvenience associated with these devices, each of these lockable devices only controls the single phone which attaches to it. In order to control all of the telephones in a building, they units of the device must be attached to every telephone jack. This greatly increases its expense and inconvenience of use. In the case of both residential or business use, in order to control access to a telephone line from a particular room, the person controlling access must go to that room and use a key to switch the device. It does not allow access to the telephone line to be controlled from a single randomly selected remote location. In addition, locking devices of this type are also relatively complex in terms of the mechanical and electrical hardware needed to implement them. It would be desirable to have a device capable of controlling multiple telephone line outlets from a single arbitrarily selected location. In addition, it would be desirable to have a device capable of controlling multiple telephone line outlets with a minimum number of components which can be attached to the telephone line at any outlet jack without having to place equipment in a remote location or inside the wall, and without requiring a skilled workman to complete the installation.
Other prior art attempts to control use of telephone lines involve ringer control devices which deactivate the ringer such that when a call is received, the recipient is unaware of it. While devices designed for interrupting the ringer on a telephone can limit incoming telephone calls, they do not prevent access to the telephone line for outbound calls. It would be desirable to have a method of inhibiting both inbound and outbound calls.
The prior art typically relies on complex devices and systems, which may even include microprocessors and software, to control access to individual telephone sets. The prior art has not provided a simple device capable of inhibiting access to inbound and outbound telephone lines. While the prior art has provided methods of limiting access to individual phones, or access to groups of phones, it is failed to provide a method of disabling the telephone line itself such that the line is not available for use regardless of what equipment may be attached to it. Further, the prior art has failed to provide a device which can be attached to a telephone line at any location, and prevent access to the line by telephone sets regardless of where the equipment is attached to the line.